Goodbye 205, Hello 1204!

We BOUGHT a house!

Justin and I rented in a 600 sq. foot apartment for 15 months. It was a 2 bedroom, one big square type layout place. The bathroom was basically in the living room with the couch about 8 feet away. It was more than enough for the short time that it was just us, but as soon as Harper and all of her paraphernalia came along we had already outgrown it. Sometime in the end of July we called our good friends (who also happen to be the best realtors!) and we started our search. 

After looking at a few places in the area we stumbled across our new home. It was significantly less expensive than the other places as it was an estate that had been heavily smoked in and empty for quite some time. We knew the furnace was old, carpet would need replaced, and everything that had paint would need to be redone as well as some of the electrical outlets. We low balled our offer and received a counter of exactly what we wanted to pay. Because it was an estate we had a quick 45 day closing, packed up our shoe box apartment, and started the weeks of projects.

When we first talked about getting new carpet and painting it seemed like an easy task. Wrong! We quickly found out that in addition to painting we had to hand wash, prime, and then double to triple coat everything. We had a deadline to get everything done as our carpet was set to be installed 3 days before move in day. In addition, every single surface including floors, windows, lights, doors, and closet organizers all had to be washed. We crammed our schedule so full. As soon as work was done for the day one of us would stay home with Harper while the other was at the new place. She was less than thrilled to be caged in a play pen watching me paint but with the help of great family and friends we were able to reach our deadline with all but a couple of window ledges painted.

Moving day was a gigantic blur. Justin and his buddy started moving furniture and boxes while I stayed back at the old place with Harper and packed all of the boxes for them to take. It took from early morning until after dinner to get it finished. Our lease wasn't up at the apartment for another 3 weeks so we were able to leave some of the less important items there as we unpacked at the house. We're fortunate enough to have awesome friends and family who helped us move, paint, redo electrical work and get the apartment back in mint condition. 

On Halloween day Harper and I had to go sweep the floor one last time and drop off our apartment keys. I quickly realized that we would never again go inside our first place. The place we went after we were married, the place we shared all of our first memories living together and then later brought our first baby home to. The place we spent countless hours trying to get her to stop crying & and even more hours laughing with her. 

For about a week we had the hardest time making our new place feel like home. But since then Harper has taken her first steps here, adopted the role of neighborhood watch, and learned more than one way to crawl up/down steps even with a baby gate. While we still have a list of renovations to tackle, this is our home & we couldn't be happier. 

1204, we love you!

(insert shameless amount of baby pictures)